


Stay Alive

by chronicAngel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, First Kiss, Mild Blood, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 22:19:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14703591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: Really, she is happy because it finally feels like she is beginning to make a difference in the world.





	Stay Alive

**Author's Note:**

  * For [figgvie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/figgvie/gifts).



> Happy birthday! I hope you like it, since I'm already starting to resent it, haha.
> 
> The magical girls used here are about 45% Star Guardians from _League of Legends_ , 40% Magical Girls from _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_ , and about 15% my own bullshit.

“--kura... Sakura... Sakura!” Her head throbs as a familiar voice cuts through the heavy blackness of her closed eyelids. With a groan that makes her throat burn and much effort, she cracks her eyes open, squinting as her blurry vision is filled with head-splitting sunlight and a silhouette with perky twin buns that somehow don’t appear to have come loose at all. The light tells her that the Voidling they were fighting before has disappeared and taken its rift with it, and the buns tell her that Tenten has found her, apparently unconscious, on the ground and begun to panic. “You’re alive,” she breathes, her features relaxing. She then turns and shouts over her shoulder, presumably to the rest of their team, “She’s awake! Are you alright?” And then warm brown eyes are focused on her and full of concern again. Sakura opens her mouth to assure her teammate that she is okay, and then rolls over and promptly empties the contents of her stomach on the ground where she was laying only a moment ago. She skipped dinner last night as part of a new diet and missed breakfast in her rush not to be late to school this morning, and so it is entirely bile, and so she chokes as she attempts to suck in soothing, cool air for her gravelly throat. Tenten simply rubs her back, shooting her a sympathetic look.

“I’m fine,” she mutters around her hand as she wipes at the corner of her mouth, but she’s sure it doesn’t exactly have the effect she was hoping it would. The whole world is throbbing-- or, more likely, just her head.

Still, Tenten doesn’t push it, either because she knows Sakura is too independent and stubborn to let her fuss or because Hinata and Ino are rushing over, each donning their own scrapes and bruises that Tenten will need to cluck over like a mother hen. She’s only a year older than the rest of them, but sometimes it feels like so much more than that. “This was a tough one, Forehead. We really could have used your help. Luckily for you, I managed to save the day,” Ino says, holding a hand to her chest and standing straight like she’s posing for a statue to be erected in the heart of the city. If she were any less modest, she’d be expecting her teammates to ask for her autograph.  _ Sometimes I wonder if she isn’t _ , Sakura thinks with a roll of her eyes as Hinata kneels at her side.

Her mild-mannered teammate shoots her a gentle smile as she reaches into a bag at her side and offers Sakura crackers to munch on while the older girl ( _ Three months older _ , Sakura is always quick to point out) patches up her lighter wounds. “You really should take it easier, Sakura,” the Hyūga says, gently rubbing some homemade salve on a large, bleeding scrape on her large, bleeding forehead, but like everything she says, it sounds half-hearted. She’s not sure Hinata’s voice has ever risen above a whisper in her life, like she is constantly out of breath. “I don’t know what we would do if our fearless leader was put out of commission.” They share a smile for a moment before Ino grabs her arm, bandaged but still freshly bruised, and hauls her to her feet while she hisses in pain through her teeth.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a real hero and we don’t know what we’d do without you,” Ino mutters, but there’s a note of sincerity that keeps Sakura’s smile from faltering. Tucking a lock of her signature Yamanaka blonde hair behind her ear, she pushes Sakura to walk a few steps, her hands never straying far from her forearms or back until she is satisfied that nothing is twisted or sprained and the younger ( _ Six months younger _ , she inwardly seethes, almost wrinkling her nose) girl can walk by herself. “But next time you faint in the middle of a fight, we’re totally leaving you for dead,” she warns, a wicked glint in her eye.

“Before you two start arguing,” Tenten cuts her off, seeing Sakura’s mouth open for a retort, “lunch hour ends in seven minutes.” She tucks her phone into her back pocket.

Ino and Sakura both let out colorful swears while Hinata just squeaks, and the four of them rush to get back to school before they’re marked as tardy and get in trouble for skipping class, ignoring their colorful, frilly outfits and heeled boots that definitely look nothing like the school uniform. By the time they get there, they’ve all transformed back, anyway, and Hinata nervously tucks her vest buttons together despite the fact that they never came unbuttoned, still trying to hide her growing chest.

“Relax,” Ino giggles as they walk into their class, the last group to do so before the bell rings, though the other girls know she’s hiding a wheeze from the Hyūga. She’s not unathletic, but Sakura has suspected she has asthma since they were eight and has simply been too polite to ask. “You don’t have anything to hide, Hinata-chan.”

“It’s embarrassing,” the smaller girl huffs, pulling her arms in on herself to hide her body and plopping into her seat at the back corner of the room, tucked between Aburame Shino, the quietest boy Sakura has ever met, and Inuzuka Kiba,  _ almost _ the loudest boy she’s ever met.

“Hey Sakura-chan!” Naruto yells across the classroom, earning a scathing glare from Iruka-sensei that he wholeheartedly ignores in favor of waving to her like an idiot until she finally sits next to him, gritting her teeth. Her headache is already bad enough, and she doesn’t need this annoying blond yelling in her ear at slightly below his usual volume until school gets out. “Wow, you’re pretty banged up. What do you girls get up to at lunch?” He inquires, and she slides a sharp look his way that has him nervously ducking his head down.

* * *

Sakura has never had a hard time hiding bruises from her parents. It’s the cuts, scrapes, scabs, and occasional breaks that she has a hard time explaining, and it’s these nights that she usually yells over her shoulder, already halfway up the stairs and to her room, that she’s cramming tonight. She’s been cramming a lot lately, and she thinks her mom is starting to get suspicious. In fact, she knows her mom is starting to get suspicious as she hears a sharp knock on her door a second before it swings open, and she quickly stuffs concealer into her makeup box and  _ prays _ that it covers the cut across on her temple well enough that her mother won’t notice. “Dinner’s almost ready. Your father cooked it tonight, though, so I understand if you wanna skip it for that ‘diet’ of yours,” Mebuki chuckles, and Sakura smiles in return. Her father’s cooking is as atrocious as her own, and she and her mother enjoy privately joking about it even though they both know he  _ knows _ his cooking isn’t very good.

They linger in the quiet for a moment and just as Sakura thinks her mother is about to turn to leave, her hand lingers on the doorframe and she turns to look at her daughter over her shoulder, her eyes filled with conflicting emotions. She thinks she sees concern and  _ guilt _ in there somewhere, and she’s not sure what, exactly, her mother thinks she has to be guilty for. She’s the one who should feel guilty. She’s not even sure what she would tell her mom if she were to ask about her mysterious injuries.  _ Yeah, mom, I’m a magical girl, we fight these things call Voidlings who are actually fellow magical girls that are corrupted when they go into this place called the Void _ \-- “Do you have a boyfriend?”

She imagines her eyes bugging out of her skull like a cartoon character’s. “ _ What _ ?” She cries sharply, almost indignant, but mostly shocked.

Mebuki turns back to face her daughter, eyes soft and remorseful and Sakura is still so confused because  _ where on Earth did that come from _ ?! “You’ve been so... It’s like you’re hiding something. You’re always up in your room, ‘cramming.’ I remember when I was your age and I didn’t study nearly this much. And you’re showing up at your classes late and then staying after school but... You seem so happy, sweetheart. I haven’t seen you smile so much since you were in preschool. You’re thirteen years old. If you have a boyfriend, you can tell me about it.”

Sakura can’t help but laugh a little to herself, brushing a lock of short pink hair back from her face even as it risks exposing the part of the cut that swoops down to her ear that she hasn’t covered yet. If her mother notices, she doesn’t say anything, which surely means her mother doesn’t notice. “Of course I don’t have a boyfriend, Mom. I’m not Ino, I’m just too busy for that sort of thing.” Still, wistfully, she thinks to Sasuke and feels her cheeks heat up even as she continues, “I promise, if I had a boyfriend, you and Dad would be the first people to know.” She thinks of Hinata, Ino, and Tenten and flinches. “The second people to know. I think Ino would probably kill me if she wasn’t the first person to know; but my  _ point _ is that I’m definitely  _ not _ dating anybody. I’m just happy because I think I might beat Ino for top of our class this year.” She thinks it’s a believable lie. After all, she  _ thinks _ she might beat Ino for top of their class every year, and usually ends up third or fourth behind her and Uchiha Sasuke. (She can’t even really be mad about it.)

Really, she is happy because it finally feels like she is beginning to make a difference in the world. As a magical girl, she has a level of power that she never had as a regular civilian, and she knows to the core of her being that she is doing good with it. Of course she still plans to grow up and go to a top tier medical school and become the best doctor in the world, but as a magical girl, she can save lives  _ now _ . Not only that, but she does it alongside a whole  _ team _ of magical girls-- a whole team of her friends.

“Well, you’re not going to beat Ino by sleeping in every morning,” her mother jokes, sending her a wicked grin, and she rolls her eyes. “Finish up your studying and join your father and I downstairs, okay?” She nods, green eyes bright, and her mother nods back once. “I love you, Sakura,” she says, and every time it is like she has put all of the warmth of a summer afternoon into those three words. Sakura has never doubted that her parents love her.

“I love you too, Mom,” she replies, and her mother closes the door behind her as she leaves. She lets out a half-breath that she didn’t realize she was holding, turning back to her desk mirror and watching her forehead wrinkle with a frown as she investigates the concealer on her cut. It’s caked on, rushed and clearly done with shaky hands. If her mother had gotten much closer, she’s sure she would have seen it, and Sakura’s not sure what she would do then. She reaches toward the makeup wipes on the corner of her desk with a small sigh, scrutinizing her reflection like it’s a different person. “You can’t lie to them forever, Sakura...”

* * *

“So ‘amps’ is actually short for ‘amperes’, which is what you use to measure electric current, or amperage. You’ll calculate your amperage by dividing your voltage by your resistance,” Tenten says around a mouthful of rice, pointing to the first equation with her chopsticks. “Here, you’ve got a voltage of 70 volts, and a resistance of 14 ohms. So you’ll divide that 70,” she motions like she’s grabbing the number with her chopsticks and dragging it over to the 14, only centimeters away, really. “By this 14, which’ll give you 5, right?” Ino and Sakura nod, and Hinata seems completely lost in the haze of numbers. “It’s that simple. Your answer is 5 amperes,” she circles the answer with her chopstick, and Sakura follows by circling it with her pencil.

“I’m... a little lost,” Hinata confesses, and Tenten laughs warmly as she scoots over to help her, leaving Ino and Sakura to fight over a calculator. Sakura elbows Ino in the ribs, which sends her rolling onto her back on the huge mattress and laughing. Sakura is confused until she sees the calculator clutched to her chest and dives, snatching for it.

Later, physics homework all finished, they all lay on their stomachs, side to side, watching some show that only Tenten really understands, but it’s her apartment and her TV so none of them protests. (The only thing that Sakura protests, really, is the fact that Tenten lives by herself at 14, but she doesn’t bring it up for fear of being rude.) There’s a bowl of barbecue potato chips laying in front of Ino which she happily munches on, and Sakura snorts. “Pick those up from Chōji?”

Ino turns her whole body to glare at her, scoffing. “ _ Excuse _ me, Forehead?”

“Guys, let’s not fight in my apartment,” Tenten says helplessly, but they’re both pushing themselves up, forehead to forehead, unable to hear her over their own voices rising to be heard over the other. Sakura’s not even sure what they’re arguing about, really, but  _ Forehead _ and  _ Pig _ are thrown around more than once and it’s not long before one of Tenten’s neighbors, a middle-aged woman who looks more exhausted than Sakura thought a human being could ever look, knocks on the door and politely asks if they could  _ please  _ quiet it down a little, she just got her son down for a nap and he’s been fussy all day. She doesn’t say another word until they leave, ashamed.

* * *

“Go on a date with me,” Naruto begs, and she rolls her eyes for the thousandth time as she pulls her second shoe off of her foot to put it in her locker, switching it for a generic blue sandal that matches most other kids at their school’s summer shoes. He’s been doing this every day since they were nine, so she’s really used to it, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying to deal with.

“I’ve told you a million different reasons, a million different times, that I will never, never go out with you, Naruto,” she says, but it’s lighthearted in the way only a friendly rejection can be. It’s much nicer than a  _ certain _ dark-haired genius has ever bothered to be, that’s for sure.

He pouts at her, and just like every time, it almost half-tempts her to say yes, but just like every time, it’s not really enough. “Well, you’ll still sit next to me in class tomorrow, right?” He says excitedly, looking for all the world like a puppy, and she sighs in exasperation as she nods. Just once, she’d like to sit next to one of her friends. Then again, she supposes sitting next to Naruto means that she’s only two seats away from Sasuke, and he doesn’t badger her for dates in class so much anymore, so she supposes it could be a lot worse. Still, she wishes he would just accept that all they’re ever going to be is friends.

“Ew, Sakura! Get away from that thing!” Ino squeaks, rushing over to her and clutching her arm to drag her away. Naruto looks bewildered, looking around for whatever is so disgusting, and Sakura immediately feels guilty because she knows it is him. Ino smirks at him meanly for a minute before he seems to notice and then looks half-angrily, half-sadly at her. “Oh, sorry. I thought I saw a bug.” With a passive aggressive wave, the Yamanaka drags Sakura away toward Hinata’s locker.

“You don’t have to do that every time you see him talking to me, you know,” Sakura says, giving her friend a sidelong look.  _ Naruto is a pest, but he’s not as bad as everyone acts _ , she thinks, but doesn’t say out loud. “You should try being nice to him next time you see him. Not many people are,” she offers instead, and shoots Ino a look that tells her that it’s not  _ really _ a suggestion.

The blonde just rolls her eyes, though, and greets Hinata, who’s sitting on the bench between her row of lockers and the next, pulling on her own black, leather sandals. “Sorry to keep you two waiting, Kurenai-sensei wanted to talk to me after math class.”

Ino laughs to herself while Sakura asks, partially concerned but mostly just curious, “Yeah, we heard that. What did she want?” She has a suspicion. Hinata is phenomenally smart, but she’s not a genius like the two of them and in particular her math skills are not the best. Besides that, she has what is most likely asthma even worse than Asuma-sensei’s, and he’s been smoking longer than any of them have been alive, probably, so her gym scores are never the best. As Hinata opens her mouth to respond, the three of them hear the sound of someone sprinting from the high school first year girls’ locker room and turn in time to see Tenten running straight for them.  _ If we move, she’ll run head-first into the lockers, but if we stay here, she’ll run headfirst into  _ us, Sakura thinks.

As it turns out, she does neither, skidding to a halt just in front of them and gasping for breath as she puffs out, “There’s... we have... a situation...” Sakura and Ino exchange identical looks of concern while Hinata calmly pushes herself to stand, always the least panic-driven of all of them.

“Another one? But there was just a...” Sakura looks around to see that there are still girls around having conversations, and least fortunately of all, Naruto is still lingering by her locker looking dumbstruck. “ _ Situation _ yesterday!”

“We have to go,” Hinata says, firmly but somehow still just as softly as ever. “There’s no one else who can handle these sorts of situations. We can’t sit around in the locker rooms panicking.” With that, she leads the way without actually knowing where they’re going, and the rest of the group hurries after her. Sakura doesn’t know how someone so shy and nervous and introverted can be such a natural leader, especially when she was the first person to vote that they make Sakura they leader of the team when they agreed to do this together. Sometimes, she sees Hinata as someone to be protected, and sometimes, she thinks she’s stronger than any of them.

The second they step outside of the school, they understand what Tenten meant by  _ situation _ . Normally, rifts are just big enough for a being the size of a middle or high school-aged girl to pop out of. This looks like half of the sky has split open and the tear has colored black and purple and...  _ dark _ .  _ Void-like _ , her mind supplies, and she halfheartedly checks the area around them before transforming and sprinting in its direction, sure that whatever she finds will not be good. The other girls on her team follow suit, and soon they’re all running together toward this anomaly and she wonders if anyone else’s heart is pounding as hard as hers is. It’s not the exercise, but the same fear she gets every time they go in for one of these fights that they’re simply not going to be  _ enough _ .

She feels like her knees are going to buckle underneath her when they get to the scene. The creature that stands in front of them is certainly much larger than a middle or high school-aged girl. She think it’s probably closer to a medium-sized building, as it seems to have no problem uprooting houses and small bundles of trees. The most intense thing they’ve ever fought was a Voidling a few weeks ago who threw sticks of what seemed like dango at them with surprisingly good aim.

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” Ino says, and Sakura’s glad for once that she took the words out of her mouth. Fighting this creature that  will probably may kill her without having told her parents what she does during her afternoons with the girls  _ and _ swearing just feels like a lot for one afternoon.

Normally, with smaller, easier enemies, she’d pull the team aside and strategize, observe the enemy for a while to spot a weakness and then exploit it. Stamina is her strong suit, and the other girls are good at dodging or else defending. Now, though, she doesn’t have much time to do that as the creature drags its giant paw through a building, ripping it in half like a piece of bread and knocking it into the street, crushing a dozen cars and whatever civilians might have been in them. She narrows her eyes, looking around for anything she can use, and then announces in a way she thinks makes it sound like she’s at all confident in the plan, “Botan, go all out.”

Tenten blinks in shock at her. “Really?” She nods, and Tenten doesn’t wait a second longer before launching herself at the creature with a paper tag between her pointer and middle fingers, fluttering in the wind as she practically flies toward one of the beast’s nine tails. Sakura blinks and suddenly her teammate has disappeared from her line of sight and is being swung toward the brick wall of a building by another tail that looks like it’s almost glowing red. A moment before she makes contact with it and breaks her spine and all of her ribs, there’s an explosion, which results in Tenten’s freedom and probably partial deafness.

The tail, while not necessarily unharmed, is still attached, and Tenten lands on the ground in front of them like some sort of anime, coated in scratches and skin darkened like it’s been singed by the explosion. “Are you okay?” Sakura asks, trying not to panic.

“I’m fine!” Tenten yells, louder than necessary, and Sakura wonders if her deafness theory hasn’t been confirmed. “I’m just gonna... lay here for a minute!” She yells, slightly quieter this time, and then wheezes, curling onto her side on the ground. Sakura furrows her brows in concern and then nods, turning back to her two uninjured teammates. “Ino, I want you to use your diversion tactics. Be the hero you’re always bragging about being. Hinata, watch her back. I’m gonna stay with her.” Ino doesn’t even quip back, just nods and jumps away.

She crouches at Tenten’s side to see severe burns on the parts of her arms and legs that the costume don’t cover, which is quite a lot, really. “Second degree, maybe third...” She murmurs to herself, thankful that Tenten probably can’t hear her. “Does anything feel broken?” She yells, loud enough she’s sure her teammate can catch it.

“I’m gonna be fine,” she answers, which doesn’t give Sakura very much hope. Rolling her further from her side to her stomach, Sakura drags the pink fabric up her back to examine the damage to her spine. Nothing is obviously broken, but there’s some intense bruising and scraping that makes Sakura wince in sympathy pain. She runs her fingers gently down what’s visible of Tenten’s spine and her teammate immediately hisses through her teeth, “Ouch, Sak, not so hard.” She immediately removes her fingers and furrows her brows in concern again, reaching into the small pouch at her side for whatever medical supplies she has that might be able to help. Most of what she has is bandages and supplies for stitches, which aren’t too much help with bruises, burns, or possible breaks. She has some of Hinata’s homemade burn salve, though, and she smears it onto what she can and puts bandages over it in the hope that may help.

She looks up to see how the fight is progressing and the world is in slow motion. Hinata attacks the creature from the back, using the martial arts training Sakura frequently forgets she has to attack the base of the creature’s tails, which seem to be some sort of weak spot. The beast swipes at her with one hand but can’t seem to get an accurate hit in, which may have something to do with Ino’s Mind-whatever. It seems to realize that as well, because it turns to face the blonde and brings a clawed hand (it’s halfway between a hand and a paw, really) down to crush her between it and the street below.

She shrieks, and so does Sakura, and then the whole world seems to go strangely silent as Ino is finally crushed into the ground and the beast uses that paw to spring itself up into the air and through the rift, effectively escaping their clutches unless they want to chase it into the Void and become Voidlings themselves. She’s glued to Tenten’s side, feeling like the weight of the entire world is holding her down to the spot, but she watches helplessly through blurry eyes as Hinata catches sight of Ino’s probably-crushed-into-an-unrecognizable-pulp body in the street and then looks to where Sakura sits with wide eyes. Panicking for the first time that Sakura’s ever seen, Hinata tries to scoop up Ino and carry her and is failing miserably.

“Sak, what’s happening...?” Tenten groans, having rolled by herself onto her back while Sakura was staring at Ino and the beast, and somehow this jars the Haruno back to reality. Without answering, she stands and bolts to help Hinata with their teammate.

“She’s... she’s not br-breathing...” Hinata gasps, one arm wrapped around Ino to support her weight as best she can while the other hand clutches her chest. “I’m... not breathing... she... but she’s... pulse...” She collapses onto the ground, Ino crumpling on top of her.

Sakura watches the whole thing with wide eyes, brain running a mile a minute.

* * *

She sits in the waiting room of the hospital, feeling like she failed.

As a leader. As a friend.

Not only is she supposed to be the one who comes up with the brilliant plans so things like this don’t happen, she’s supposed to be the one  _ executing _ the brilliant plans so she’ll be the one bearing the brunt of the damage and she’s supposed to be able to patch them all up afterward because it’s supposed to be easy and the sort of thing a thirteen-year-old can handle and her teammates shouldn’t all be on the verge of  _ death _ .

She ignores another worried call from her mother. Her parents don’t know where she is. She doesn’t have the heart to tell them another lie and she doesn’t have the heart to tell them the truth about everything, either, so she just sits in the waiting room knowing she’s a failure and a  _ coward _ . At least she called Hinata and Ino’s parents (she’s still not sure how to contact Tenten’s or if they’re even contactable, at this point), though only Ino’s father paces in the waiting room. Apparently Hyūga Hiashi had a business meeting that he couldn’t just leave  _ just _ because his daughter was in the hospital. Sakura forgets that Hinata comes from a rich family and just as often forgets how much she  _ hates _ that family and the way they treat her friend.

“What were you girls doing in that part of town?” Inoichi finally asks her, chewing on his thumbnail, long hair falling in strands from his ponytail and into his face. His daughter looks so much like him that it’s painful and she has to drag her eyes down to her lap just so she doesn’t burst into tears and confess everything. Before she even comes up with a lie, though, he continues, “I mean, when you saw the giant monster, did you not think, ‘Run the other way’? What part of that thing destroying a part of the town looked inviting to you four? You’re all lucky you aren’t dead!”

She flinches and dips her head forward to hide her face, ashamed.

She doesn’t see the Yamanaka’s face, but she suspects the look on it as he immediately sits next to her and says, “No, Sakura, that’s not what I... I’m sorry.” He sighs, and she looks up to see him running a hand through his hair, so impossibly long just like Ino’s. “It’s just... very stressful, to worry about your child, to not know where she is, and then to find out she’s in the  _ hospital _ . I’ve never... I’m not...” He runs his hair through his hand again. “Her mother would have been so much better at this.”

Normally, she would try to comfort him, but whenever she closes her eyes she can’t help but picture her own mother’s worried expression or the sight of her friend being crushed under that monster’s giant paw. She finally lets tears build and throws herself at Inoichi, sobbing into his shoulder. He’s awkward for a moment, then wraps his arms around her.

* * *

“Where have you been?!” Her mother screeches the moment she gets home, and she flinches, dropping her backpack on the floor. Her mother storms up to her at the door, her father not far behind her, and then they both seem to notice the puffy redness of her eyes because their expressions immediately soften. She feels her mother’s arms tightly around her in an instant, her head being crushed against Haruno Mebuki’s chest, and she just cries and clutches her back. “We were so worried about you, Sakura! There was some monster attack on the town and we thought that you were...” Her mother trails off into her hair and she sobs.

“We were... and...” She chokes. “Ino and Tenten and Hinata are all in the hospital,” she cries, and her mother holds her tighter. “Tenten was hit with one of its tails and ended up near this explosion and then it crushed Ino under its paw and ran off into this rift thing or whatever and... and Hinata tried to carry Ino to us like some sort of super mom who lifts cars off their babies and she... she had some sort of asthma attack and now... e-everyone’s in the hospital but m-me, Mom... W-why is everyone in the hospital but m-me?” She pulls away to look between her parents with wide eyes.

It’s her father who speaks up, voice gentle but shaking. “Sakura, I can’t tell you how sorry we are that your friends are in the hospital... But I can’t tell you how happy we are that you’re  _ not _ . You’re  _ okay _ . We’re so happy that you’re not hurt, sweetheart.”

“Dad,” she cries, moving to embrace him tightly, and he wraps his arms tightly enough around her that she’s sure one of her ribs is going to crack any minute now. Still, her father’s bear hugs are more than welcome. “I just... Why am I the only one who’s o-okay? Why am I the only one who’s n-not h-hurt?” They stand there for a few more minutes, hugging and crying, until she wears herself out and her father carries her to the couch while her mother makes tea. She stares numbly at her toes, which peek out from under the blanket her mother covered her with, and tries not to process everything because she’s sure once she does she’ll cry again.

Still, she can’t help but wonder why her parents are the only ones who don’t have to sit in a hospital waiting room all night.

* * *

She goes to the hospital immediately after school, and spares a second of concern over the fact that she wasn’t stopped by Naruto. 

Hinata’s room is the first one she can muster the courage to visit, clenching her eyes shut when she walks in for fear of what she will see. When she finally does crack her eyes open, she feels like she has been punched in the chest seeing her friend with an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, eyes only half-open though she is plainly still conscious. Perhaps worse, Sakura doesn’t see any family members anywhere, and even looks for a light in the crack under the bathroom door. It’s at this point that the Hyūga girl notices Sakura and immediately moves to pull the oxygen mask off her face.

“Don’t worry about this,” she tries to reassure, speaking too quickly and winding herself for a moment. Sakura thinks it is truly remarkable how fragile she can be sometimes, when she usually seems like one of the least fragile people Sakura knows. “It’s just a precaution,” she breathes. “They do it every time I’m in the hospital after an asthma attack. I really don’t need it--”

Sakura cuts her off, crushing her in a hug that could rival one of her father’s. If it hurts Hinata, she doesn’t say anything, instead gently wrapping her arms around Sakura in return and rubbing her back.

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better,” she says even as tears prick at the corners of her eyes. “I’ve seen all of you guys get hurt before. I know you’re not invincible. You don’t have to put on some brave face.” She sniffs and she feels Hinata nod against the side of her head. When she pulls away, her friend gives her a practiced look that tries not to resemble concern too much and then pulls her oxygen mask back on, taking a series of deep breaths. Sakura just sits patiently at her side, holding one of her hands for she has no idea what else she can do. She’s not sure if Hinata can even talk in the thing, but after a minute, if only to fill the silence, she asks, “Where are your family? I called your father yesterday and told him you were in the hospital and it...” She trails off, biting her lip.  _ It seemed like he didn’t even care _ .

Rather than answering, Hinata shakes her head, though doesn’t explicitly say that she doesn’t want to talk about it. “The nurses won’t tell me anything about Ino and Tenten,” she says, and it’s strangely muffled by the oxygen mask but still plainly audible. “And I can’t leave my room to go see them until I’m discharged, either. Can you tell me how they’re doing?” Sakura feels a small pang of guilt. She isn’t sure how to tell Hinata that she hasn’t been to see the others yet because visiting Hinata seemed the  _ easiest _ . She isn’t sure how to break the news that seeing Hinata hurt seemed the easiest to deal with, or perhaps that who was hurt doesn’t matter so much as how hurt they were. She doesn’t want to make it seem like Hinata wasn’t  _ hurt enough _ for her to care.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know anything,” she says aloud, smiling apologetically. “That was sort of the next step.”

If Hinata is disappointed, she does a great job of not showing it, smiling and nodding. The more Sakura thinks about it, the more of a mystery her dark-haired, pale-skinned teammate is, but it’s the good sort of mystery. She sits with Hinata for another half hour as though she may be able to figure it out in that time before they both decide she should go see the others. Visiting hours aren’t very long and they both know Hinata is going to be in the hospital for much less time than either of their other friends. When she gets to the receptionist’s desk for the second time, she feels her chest seize up with anxiety over the impending decision.

She thinks of Tenten in a hospital bed, covered in burns but pretending that she’s fine just so she doesn’t bother Sakura like the older sister-type that she’s always been, probably eating Chinese food and stifling pained winces at the last second when she moves her burned arm the wrong way.

On the other hand, she thinks of Ino, laying in a hospital bed on life support, her face looking as gentle as it does at sleepovers when she passes out over one of her books and her head dips forward so her hair falls in her face.

“I’d like to check in to visit Tenten,” she says, her chest tight, and the woman smiles and nods.

Tenten lays in bed playing on a Gameboy and talking to two boys Sakura vaguely recognizes as upperclassmen ( _ probably friends of hers _ , her mind supplies). Well, she’s talking to one of them while the other just sits there with his arms crossed, staring out the window. There are bandages on significant portions of her arms, and it’s not hard to imagine that her legs are like that under the blanket, too.

She knocks on the door even though it’s already open, and the boy in green looks at her and then immediately starts blushing. “Hey, Ten,” she says tentatively, walking into the room. “How are you feeling?”

Tenten just groans, putting her game down and springing forward to Sakura, wrapping her arms tightly around her. “Are you okay? I was so worried about you! You were looking at my back and then you just disappeared and then I passed out and I woke up here and none of the nurses would tell me anything!” Sakura wheezes once Tenten finishes gushing and her teammate immediately lets her go, looking her over to examine her for injuries.

“I’m fine,” she says once she can properly breathe again, carefully avoiding Tenten’s legs as she sits at the foot of her bed. “Everything was a little crazy, but I managed to get out without getting hurt. I’m only here because I was visiting, I just left Hinata’s room.” The imperious boy at the window seems to perk up somewhat at that, actually tearing his gaze away from the window for a moment before quickly feigning disinterest and looking back at the birds in the hospital parking lot.

“Oh!” Tenten grins and leans as far forward as she can without jarring her legs, grabbing the boy’s arm and dragging him to a standing position. He looks like he could surely stop her if he wanted to, but also looks like someone who is resigned to this sort of treatment. “This is Hyūga Neji, a classmate of mine. He’s also Hinata’s cousin,” she says, and Sakura exchanges a look with the boy before her eyes are dragged to the other boy, who’s still blushing and staring at her. She almost blushes as well under so much attention. “And this is another classmate of mine--”

“Rock Lee!” The boy announces, getting on one knee in front of her, and it takes everything she has not to jump back. “And you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. You are Haruno Sakura, are you not?” She nods, narrowing her eyes at him nervously. She’s always a bit apprehensive when someone she’s never met before knows her name, doubly so when they refer to her as a  _ beautiful creature _ , though she can’t exactly say that’s something that happens to her often. “Tenten has told us a lot about you! You are the bravest, most compassionate person I have ever met. Would you do me the honor of going on a date with me?” She furrows her eyebrows, opening her mouth to respond as gently as she can before Tenten thumps him on the head.

“Don’t be weird, Lee! Of course she doesn’t want to go on a date with you, she’s never even met you!” She sighs and buries her face in one of her hands, rubbing at her temples. “Neji, take him to go visit Hinata, please?” Sakura has never seen Tenten use her doe eyes as a weapon before, but the look that she exchanges with her classmate and holds for a whole second looks like a battle until Neji finally huffs and grabs Lee’s arm, dragging him toward the door to the hospital room while muttering something through gritted teeth. Once they’re out, Tenten sighs. “He’s been avoiding visiting her. He comes off like a jerk sometimes, but he’s just worried about her.”

She nods, and the a thought occurs to her.

Straightening so it’s clear she means business but leaning in conspiratorially so no one else who walks in will be able to hear them, she whispers, “Two Voidlings in the same week is kind of a lot, right? Do you think something is going on?” Tenten isn’t necessarily more experienced, but she’s the oldest on the team, and this has always made Sakura feel more comfortable asking her what they should do. She tells herself that’s the reason she’s talking to Tenten and not the fact that Ino is in a coma in another room right now, unable to give her advice on strategies or solutions in case the world is ending.

“It is a lot,” Tenten confirms, and her expression immediately becomes thoughtful. “But it might just be an anomaly. We should wait a little while before making assumptions and if things don’t quiet down, we’ll figure it out. For now we should focus on what that...” She shudders, gripping a part of her arm that isn’t burned to steady herself. “ _ Thing _ was. We’ve never seen a Voidling like that before. If that’s the sort of creature that we’re gonna be dealing with from now on, we’re going to need to find help. Contacting other magical girls who might be willing to help should be our top priority, both in case we fight another one of these things  _ and _ in case this is some sort of cataclysm.”

She nods. She’s technically the leader of their team, but she doesn’t mind passing the role onto Tenten for now. After all, she’s the one who seems to be forming a plan, while practically all Sakura’s done since the last attack was cry and hug people.

_ I need to be more useful. We can’t have another situation like last time _ , she thinks, gripping the sheets tightly in balled fists. “So how do we find other magical girls? It’s not like we can exactly put an ad up on Craigslist,” she says, shooting Tenten a teasing smile and hoping it covers how nervous and  _ guilty _ she feels. Again, Tenten adopts a thoughtful look, actively tapping her chin like a cartoon character.

“Well, how did you find us?” Sakura pauses, remembering her first day as a magical girl. Three other newbies had shown up to the same fight she did and all of them almost died tripping all over each other.

“You guys are all attracted to trouble?” She teases, grinning impishly.

Tenten rolls her eyes. “Maybe  _ magical girls _ are attracted to trouble. Like some sort of Spidey-Sense.” She grins and punches Sakura’s arm. “You’ll figure it out.”

She takes this as a cue to leave and nods, hugging Tenten a last time before she stands to leave the room. When she gets to the hallway, she doesn’t run into Lee or Neji, so she assumes they’re either still in Hinata’s room or have gone home. Nervously, she looks over at the receptionist again, and then peers to the room she knows to be Ino’s. She imagines seeing her best friend’s beautiful face, bruised and covered in cuts, and winces, making to leave the hospital.

* * *

Hinata gets out of the hospital the next day, but Tenten doesn’t leave until four days later and Ino is still in a coma by then.

“So I have to use these crutches for another week and won’t be able to do gym class for a little while, but other than that, the doctor has completely cleared me for going back to school.” Tenten groans in relief. “I never thought I’d be happy about going to school, but I’ve been so bored just laying around in that hospital bed, only getting up for rehabilitation. I didn’t even hurt my back  _ that bad _ . And Neji is such a  _ gentleman _ he wouldn’t let Lee go into my apartment without me, so I didn’t get any new games. I must have beaten Street Fighter II a thousand times while I was in there!”

“I don’t think you missed very much at school,” Hinata says softly, staring at her feet while they walk. “Neji-ani has been bringing your homework home every day, and it didn’t look like there was too much...”

Tenten continues to laugh and tease Hinata about her cousin (though really, she’s just teasing Neji, who isn’t there to appreciate it). Sakura, meanwhile, stares at the empty space where Ino would usually walk and chatter.

Walking to school without her there feels so wrong. Like the world is empty without her.

The school day feels similarly  _ wrong _ , and she can’t stifle that feeling. It only grows when she and Hinata get to their class and she sees Naruto is gone. He’s been gone for days, actually, if she thinks about it, but she’d hardly noticed with all of her worry about her friends in the hospital. She hasn’t even had time to stare at Sasuke with the space between them left unoccupied. “The idiot’s probably skipping,” she mutters to herself and then takes a seat, but there’s a niggling anxiety in the back of her head.

She goes to the hospital after school by herself. Hinata has Hakkeshō and Tenten says that she wishes she could go, but she really should catch up on her homework before it keeps piling up, so she tells them both that they’ll all go another time and goes by herself. It’s the first time she’s seen Ino since the incident, and she almost feels sick as she forces herself to walk to one of the visitor chairs despite legs that feel like lead.

“The world is so different without you in it,” she starts, because Ino isn’t awake to comment on how sudden it is. It’s a tactic her best friend has used to deflect conversations she doesn’t want to have since they were children.  _ Well, younger children _ , she thinks, wincing. “I don’t know how to deal with walking to school without your dumb snarky commentary. Tenten and Hinata still talk and tease but without you there it just feels so... silent. Is that crazy?” She laughs to herself a bit. “Like you’ll actually respond... it’s not like you’re awake and can hear me or anything.” She looks at Ino hopefully, waiting for a TV show moment. It doesn’t happen.

* * *

She confesses lots of things to Ino while she’s in the coma. “I miss Naruto, too. Kiba’s not as good at being loud and annoying,” she says one day.  _ He’s still good at it, but it’s not the same _ , she thinks, resting a hand on Ino’s. There’s an IV in her wrist and it makes Sakura grimace to look at.

“It’s weird not having to fight over a calculator,” she says another day during a study session in the hospital room with the girls.

“Do you ever feel bad about lying to your dad? Every day I go home I just want to sit at the table and tell my parents...” She asks another after a week of no activity from the Void.

She almost cries one day. “...Please wake up,” she pleads.

She stares at her feet as she sits in a visitor chair in Ino’s room, chewing on her lip. Taking a deep breath, she finally glances up. “I... I’m not sure I like Sasuke anymore.” She doesn’t know why this feels like the hardest confession. Like the most real one. “I mean, he’s still smart and handsome, but... He doesn’t even  _ look _ at me. It’s hard to like someone like that. I mean, I’ve sat at the same table as him for years and I’m not sure he even knows my name. It’s so exhausting trying to get someone like that’s attention. It’s exhausting  _ caring _ about that sort of thing anymore,” she sighs, running a hand through her hair in frustration. She doesn’t know why this bothers her so much.

“Good,” Ino says softly, and Sakura jumps into a straight upright position, staring at her. Her eyelashes are fluttering and she looks half-awake. “I’m tired of having competition.”

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “You’re bringing up that childish competition? Now? How long have you been awake?” She doesn’t actually give Ino time to answer before she throws herself at her best friend, wrapping her arms tightly around her, not very mindful of the broken ribs that are likely still healing. Ino’s hiss of pain is confirmation enough, and she drops the blonde back against her pillows. She feels tears in her eyes and sniffs to hold them back. She promised herself that she wasn’t going to spend all of her time crying anymore. “I’m so glad you’re awake,” she says, barely holding herself back from throwing herself at the Yamanaka again. Ino, for her part, is being remarkably gracious in that she isn’t relentlessly teasing her for whatever confessions she may or may not have heard.

“I woke up last night. After you left, I guess.”

“But you were sleeping when I got here!” She says, almost indignant, and Ino does laugh at this.

“You can’t tell me you’ve never heard of a nap before, Forehead,” she says, grinning at her friend, and Sakura rolls her eyes. She supposes a thirteen day coma doesn’t actually change a person that much.

“But why didn’t Tomoko-hakase let me know?”

Ino sighs, leaning back against her pillows (of which there are only two, an unacceptably small number). “I asked her not to, and I’m the patient, so she can’t really ignore my wishes.” Sakura is hurt for a moment, and definitely confused. Other than Inoichi, Sakura thought she’d be the first person to know when Ino woke up. As her best friend, she’d thought Ino would want it that way. Now, she’s implying the opposite? “Relax, Sakura,” she says, seemingly reading her mind. “I just wanted to surprise you with good news.”

They share a smile and Sakura moves to curl up at Ino’s side, resting her head on her shoulder. “I really missed you, y’know,” she murmurs, and Ino doesn’t respond but she runs her fingers through Sakura’s hair gently.

* * *

Ino is in the hospital for another eight days, re-learning walking and using her fine motor skills (it doesn’t take as long as Sakura thought it would), and their team visits her after rehab every day.

Finally, after exactly three weeks in the hospital, she’s allowed to go back to school with a pair of crutches that match the ones Tenten was given weeks ago, a similar dismissal from gym class, and a warning to avoid too much strenuous activity lest she jar her broken ribs. The walk to school immediately feels more normal, with Tenten elbowing Hinata while she laughs at her own jokes and Hinata warning her to be careful with Ino, who walks between Tenten and Sakura.

“I’m not something super fragile, Hinata,” Ino huffs, and she would clearly be crossing her arms if she didn’t have to use them to hold herself up on the crutches. Before Hinata can open her mouth to respond (and before Sakura can retort for her, knowing that she’ll allow herself to be walked all over), a large crack-like rift begins to open in the sky and they all trade looks. Sakura is most concerned when it keeps growing, expanding until it’s almost as large as the one that spat out the beast that sent all of her friends to the hospital. Strangely, though, what comes out looks like an amalgamation of that beast and a human, much closer to the sorts of Voidlings she’s used to dealing with. Its body has the same general shape as a human’s, but it’s as black as tar with tails coming from its back end (only four this time). The longer she looks, the less human it is in appearance.

Hinata, apparently seeing something they don’t in the Voidling, says, “Is that... Naruto?” At the same time that Tenten screeches, “I think that thing just grew another tail!” Sure enough, when Sakura looks back, she sees a creature with five tails instead of four and ghostly white eyes. The whole creature, now that she’s observing it closer, looks more like it is naturally colored red and has been colored over with a graphite pencil to look black, but the red underneath still peeks through in places underneath the grainy quality.  _ And _ now that she’s looking more closely, she definitely sees a resemblance between the...  _ fur _ or whatever on top of the creature’s head and Naruto’s awful hair.

Before it has the chance to grow more tails, she turns to her team, looking over all of them. Hinata is as uninjured as she is, but Tenten still has trouble running too much and Ino’s ribs are still healing from the breaks the last one they fought caused. “Okay, Hinata, you and I are going to do a frontal attack. You use the rotation techniques you’ve learned in Hakkeshō to cover my back and I’ll use those strength exercises I’ve been doing. Tenten, you’re still healing. Stick to the ground and only throw weapons you’re sure you can hit. Every attack matters in this. We want this battle to be as quick as possible before he has time to retaliate. Explosions are too destructive, especially when all of us are going in, so those are off the table. And avoid his tails. We know how much damage they can do,” she says remorsefully, looking at Ino, who still leans on her crutches. When Sakura starts her own transformation, all of the others follow suit, including Ino, whose crutches clatter to the ground.

Tenten rushes to get to a covered position, but Hinata stays at her side until she’s ready to run in. Ino, meanwhile, seems to still be waiting for orders, or else waiting for Sakura and Hinata to take off so she can follow after them to help. Sakura furrows her brows, giving her a concerned look. “In-- Kosumosu, you just got out of the hospital. You can’t fight in this battle. Go home.”

She stays planted defiantly. “I’ve fought against one of these things. I’m not going to let my team face that thing alone,” she says, glaring at Sakura, and she wants to yell in frustration. This isn’t the time or place for stubbornness and Ino should know that. The creature-- Naruto-- ripping a clawed hand (and  _ this _ is definitely a hand) through a building and sending the top half of it flying toward a park is evidence enough of that.

“We’re  _ not _ alone! We have each other! And we  _ need _ you to stay alive! So go!” Ino’s resolve falters for a second and that’s all it takes. Latching onto her hesitation, Sakura says, expression too gentle, “ _ I _ need you to stay alive.” Ino’s face softens and she stares for a second before nodding, and then they both sprint off in different directions, Hinata peeling after her. Tenten throws a kunai that must be a third the size of her body at the creature-- Naruto-- and it goes clean through one of his legs. He lets out an inhuman screech and swipes at the car she’s hiding behind, but she manages to run just out of his range just as he hits it.

Sakura springs off the ground, getting higher due to both intense training and being a magical girl (but she’s sure it’s mostly the second, really) and brings her hands together to slam them down against the top of his head. He howls and brings one hand to the top of his head, almost swiping her with his claws, and she wonders if it’s even on purpose. He then brings his other hand up to swipe at Hinata, who thankfully manages to redirect the hit with a rotation Sakura doesn’t really understand.

“I think he’s still transforming!” She shouts, jumping to be closer to Hinata. “He still seems to be maintaining some of his humanity. He didn’t attack me when I got close, almost like he recognized me. Maybe we can appeal to him,” she suggests, and Hinata nods.

Tenten, somehow, must hear her from where she is perched behind one of the trees in the park, because she yells back, “Do it fast! If he’s still transforming then he’s only going to get stronger and angrier! We can’t take another Nine-Tails alone!” Sakura nods and signals, and then they both run forward again, springing into the air. Hinata blocks another blow from him while Sakura lands a punch on his chest and then tangles her fingers into thick fur, holding herself up while he lets out a noise that might be a yelp. Hinata looks at him apologetically and then grabs onto his wrist, clinging as best she can. Her hands don’t meet where she’s wrapped her arms around his arm.

“Naruto!” Sakura screams, and he pauses in lifting Hinata to his face to look at her.  _ That’s a good sign, at least _ .

“I know you’re still in there somewhere!” He looks confused, pinching her between two claws and lifting her to his face like a doll, and she ignores the pain of the claws stabbing into her sides to face him. “You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met!” She yells, because it’s true, really. Outside of the team, she’s not sure she’s met anyone who’s put up with as much hardship as he has. Hell, she’s not sure he doesn’t beat some people  _ on _ their team. For some reason, everyone seems to hate him. She’s used to kids their age bullying people for no reason, is used to even people you consider friends occasionally being mean for what seems like no reason, but she’s seen adults in their town giving Naruto disgusted glares for what she can only identify as no reason. “You’ve put up with so much more in your life than I’ve ever dreamed of going through and you still come out of it every time! You put on a smile and crack jokes every day like you’re not even hurt! If I were you, I’d just give up! But you never give up! Don’t let this thing get you!”

He shrinks to something more human-looking, his five tails becoming four again, and she breathes out a small sigh of relief. Hinata is still frozen in his other hand, staring at him with a pained expression. As grip tightens on both of them as he shakes, looking around him with an expression torn between fear, recognition, and anger. She hisses through her teeth as his claws dig more painfully into her sides, but Hinata lets out a choked off, gasping cry that makes his large black ears perk up and his white eyes, practically glowing, shift from Sakura to her.

He quickly drops Sakura to the ground with little regard, and she’s sure she feels something crack as she makes contact with the street below, but at the same time she hardly notices because his lifting Hinata up to his face and giving her a scrutinizing look, teeth bared.

“N-Naruto-kun...” She says, voice soft, but it seems to reach him. He pauses, still plainly crushing her in his giant hand. There are tears in her eyes, but her expression doesn’t even seem to be one of pain.

It’s one of sadness.

“D-do you remember that d-day...?” He tilts his giant head in confusion like a dog, but it means he’s listening. “It... it was s-snowing out. We’d just started A-Academy... A-and these boys... these boys p-picked on me b-because of my eyes. Y-you stood up for me. And you... y-you gave me your scarf. R-remember?” He’s plainly staring now, demonic white eyes meeting the palest lilac Sakura’s ever seen.

Slowly, he lowers her to the ground, and then he shrinks to his regular Naruto size and collapses onto the ground, unconscious, naked, and covered in blood. Tenten rushes over the second the danger is gone, and Sakura clutches her sides as she walks as fast as she can to Hinata and Naruto.

She gathers him into her arms, hardly seeming to notice his current state. Sakura thinks that Hinata on any other day would get a nosebleed. Today, she cradles him against her chest, covering her magical girl outfit in blood (though Sakura supposes they don’t really stain). Watching them reminds her of someone else and she immediately straightens, looking between the three of them. Tenten is crouched next to Hinata and Naruto, already examining the external damage of being squeezed like that, and just from a glance Sakura wouldn’t surprised if she ended up in the hospital again. Clearing her throat, she says as calmly as she can, “Will you two be okay here?” Without asking why, they both nod, and she immediately turns and sprints away.

* * *

The sides of her dress are drenched with blood by the time she reaches the Yamanaka house, and she supposes she’s only lucky that it’s Ino who answers. “What happened to you?” Ino says, already pushing her inside, and there’s no hint of mockery in it. In fact, Sakura thinks this is the most concerned she’s ever heard her.

“He grabbed me,” she says, and Ino gives her a horrified look. “But I’ll be fine! It didn’t even go deep enough to graze anything, it’s just three, maybe four inches deep on either side. Some bandages and bedrest and I’ll be good to go, I promise.” Ino looks skeptical, but accepts this answer as she shoves Sakura down onto the couch and leaves to grab what medical supplies she has in her bathroom. While she’s gone, Sakura returns to her regular state and peels her shirt off before it gets soaked in blood.

Ino comes back to the room chewing her lip. “Sakura, that looks deep. You need stitches.” She sits next to her on the couch, rubbing an antibiotic cream on it. “Where are the others?”

“They stayed behind with Naruto. He’s unconscious and... hurt, I think,” she explains, dropping her head back against the back of the couch. “He was covered in blood anyway. No stitches, I can’t explain those scars to my mom if she notices them. Just bandage it, I swear it’ll be fine.” Ino gives her a worried look but eventually nods and moves to grab ACE bandages, mopping as much blood from Sakura’s sides up as she can with an alcohol wipe before beginning to wrap it around her midriff. They stay silent until she’s finished, at which point Ino’s hands linger at Sakura’s sides.

“I was really worried about you.”

“I know.”

“I thought you were going to die.”

“...I know.”

“I can’t live without you, Sakura,” Ino says, and their eyes meet. “I need you to stay alive,” she whispers, mimicking Sakura’s words from earlier.

She doesn’t think before she leans in, closing her eyes and lifting a hand to brush a strand of Ino’s blonde hair back. Ino doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on for a minute, until their lips meet. It’s Sakura’s first kiss, but she’s sure Ino has the softest lips in the world. That likely comes from wearing lip gloss almost every day since they were nine in the attempt to get the attention of one Uchiha Sasuke. She stopped wearing it seemingly out of nowhere a couple of months ago, and that seems like a lifetime ago now. They stay like that for nearly a full minute, and then Sakura meets Ino’s eyes, piercing green clashing with icy blue. “We’ll stay alive together,” she says.

“We always have,” Ino whispers back.


End file.
